Student Research Guide

Students at any level of college can participate, starting freshman year.

The earlier you start, the more likely it is that you'll have tangible evidence of your hard work (such as conference presentations and/or journal publications).

To get started, simply think about what you would like to study and which faculty member you would like to work with.

Collaborating on research with a faculty member can enhance your education and career in many ways:

You will significantly enhance your chances of being accepted into a graduate program, especially a Ph.D. program.

You may have one or more papers accepted at a conference, and possibly reviewed and/or accepted by a journal. Presenting or publishing a study is one of the key indicators graduate programs use to determine the strengths of applicants.

You will enhance the likelihood that you'll receive strong letters of recommendation from faculty as you apply for jobs or graduate school.

You will understand psychology and research at a much higher level.

You will enjoy conducting research and feel confident in your ability to tackle difficult tasks.

Freshmen can:

participate in research meetings

participate in data collection

participate in data coding and data entry

browse/read journals to determine what interests you most

observe experimental procedures performed by faculty and upper level students

Sophomores can:

develop their ideas and interests

begin to plan how the topic might be investigated

read/search the literature (journals and books) for ideas and measures

formulate a plan for conducting the study in the fall of junior year

Juniors can:

collect data

analyze data

write up a report for conference presentation

attend the conference as a presenter, thus gaining recognition outside Longwood University and receiving valuable feedback about the study before submitting it to a journal for possible publication